The Secret Life of Plants for Robert Fludd 2014

Anselm Kiefer created this mixed-media work, "The Secret Life of Plants for Robert Fludd", using materials like acrylic, emulsion, and shellac. Kiefer engages with the complex legacy of German history and identity. The work's title references the 17th-century English physician and occultist, Robert Fludd, whose writings explored the connections between the microcosm and macrocosm, ideas that resonated with German Romanticism. Looking at the piece, we see a dark, textured surface evoking a landscape, perhaps a field of burnt earth. Made in post-war Germany, it seems to express the cultural trauma of the Second World War. The monochrome palette and rough texture of the piece point to themes of destruction and rebirth that recur throughout Kiefer's oeuvre, but also to the tradition of history painting. To understand Kiefer's art more fully, we need to examine the intellectual and artistic traditions he draws upon, as well as the socio-political context in which he works. His art reflects the role of the artist in confronting difficult histories and questioning established narratives.